Stephen Hawking

January 8, 1942 - March 14, 2018

We invite you to explore the links below which lead to variety of resources and library items where you can learn more about Hawking's life as well as his contributions to science and cosmology (the study of the universe):

New Billion Stars Map

"The first catalogue of more than a billion stars from ESA's Gaia satellite was published today - the largest all-sky survey of celestial objects to date. On its way to assembling the most detailed 3D map ever made of our Milky Way galaxy, Gaia has pinned down the precise position on the sky and the brightness of 1142 million stars."
(source)

Gravitational Waves

February 12, 2016

For decades, researchers searched the universe in hopes of confirming something Albert Einstein's famous Theory of General Relativity predicted: the presence of "gravitational waves."

Yesterday, the LIGO research team reported their historic discovery and explained their findings:

"For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos. Gravitational waves carry information about their dramatic origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot otherwise be obtained."
(source)

For more information about this discovery, its importance, and related ideas, here are some links for your consideration:

Hubble has amassed a rich legacy of images and other scientific data over its 25 years of exploring the universe. All of the images are stored in the computer-based Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), which astronomers use for their research. The archive is bursting with more than a million images, which contain roughly 100 million small sources ranging from distant galaxies to compact star clusters to individual stars. For astronomers, however, a major challenge is the difficulty involved with sifting through the archival gold mine to collect the data they want to analyze. The Hubble Source Catalog now allows astronomers to readily perform a computer search for characteristics of these sources.

The Hubble Source Catalog is a database from which astronomers can obtain the Hubble measurements of specific astronomical objects they want to investigate. A query to this database can take just seconds or minutes, while previously it might have required a few months of hard work by searching separate files throughout the archive. This capability promises to open the door to exciting new areas of research with Hubble that otherwise might have been too cumbersome to tackle.
(source)

Dwarf Planet Ceres

March 6, 2015

Ceres, first discovered in January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, is now (over two hundred years later) being explored through NASA's Dawn Mission, which traveled over 3.4 billion miles to reach this "dwarf planet."

On Friday, March 6, 2015, NASA has announced:

"NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 38,000 miles (61,000) kilometers from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet's gravity at about 4:39 a.m. PST (7:39 a.m. EST) Friday."
(source)

International Year of Light

January 30, 2015

"In proclaiming an International Year focusing on the topic of light science and its applications, the United Nations has recognized the importance of raising global awareness about how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health. Light plays a vital role in our daily lives and is an imperative cross-cutting discipline of science in the 21st century. It has revolutionized medicine, opened up international communication via the Internet, and continues to be central to linking cultural, economic and political aspects of the global society."
(source)

LIGHT - Beyond the Bulb - "An open-source international exhibition program that showcases the incredible variety of light-based science being researched today across the electromagnetic spectrum, across scientific disciplines, and across technological platforms. The exhibit materials and striking images were crowd-sourced and expert curated for science content, high-quality printability, stunning beauty and ability to engage wide audiences."

Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 has been awarded to Isamu Akasaki,
Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura "for the invention of efficient
blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright
and energy-saving white light sources".

Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle Library

"For close to 180 years, Charles Darwin's library aboard the ship HMS Beagle during his landmark expedition around the world in the 1830s remained lost. The library was dispersed at the end of the voyage. Today, the library has been electronically re-constructed in its entirety and made freely available online as part of the Darwin Online website by historian of science Dr John van Wyhe, a Senior Lecturer at the National University of Singapore."
(source).

Hundreds of Worlds

NASA's Kepler Mission
recently helped verify the existence of over 700 new "exoplanets"
- planets which have been found well outside of our solar system:

"These newly-verified worlds orbit 305 stars, revealing multiple-planet systems
much like our own solar system. Nearly 95 percent of these planets are smaller
than Neptune, which is almost four times the size of Earth. This discovery
marks a significant increase in the number of known small-sized planets more
akin to Earth than previously identified exoplanets, which are planets outside
our solar system."
(source)

To learn more about these exciting discoveries and exoplanets in general, check out these links:

Comet ISON

November 18, 2013
(*updated December 2, 2013)

Comet ISON (also known as "Comet C/2012 S1") was discovered last year by two Russian astronomers via the International Scientific Optical Network.

ISON will approach our sun near the end of November. As ISON is a "sungrazer" comet - one which comes extremely close to the sun - it will be interesting to see how it fares.

The comet might disintegrate, or, as some astronomers suggest, it could survive its encounter with the sun and continue to be visible for a while as it embarks on a new journey beyond our solar system.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013Awarded to: Francois Englert, Peter Higgs ("for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider")

One Billion Pixels!

June 20, 2013

"A billion-pixel view from the surface of Mars, from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity,
offers armchair explorers a way to examine one part of the Red Planet in great detail."
(source)

"This full-circle view combined nearly 900 images taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover,
generating a panorama with 1.3 billion pixels in the full-resolution version.
The view is centered toward the south, with north at both ends."
(source)

Happy 20th Birthday,World Wide Web!

April 30, 2013

Tim Berners-Lee, a British physicist, made some history at
CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire)
in 1989: he invented the World Wide Web!

A few years later, CERN decided to release the technology to the world...

"On April 30, 1993, CERN published a statement that made World Wide Web ("W3", or simply "the Web")
technology available on a royalty-free basis. By making the software required to run a Web server
freely available, along with a basic browser and a library of code, the Web was allowed to flourish."
(source)

Before the Web, there was the Internet. Today, people often use the terms interchangeably,
but it was the much earlier creation of the Internet (the underlying system of computer information protocols)
which would first enable information to be shared between computers and people over networks.

Tim Berners-Lee's invention allowed for the rise of "hypertext," "hyperlinks," and HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
- digital pages encoded with links and computer commands enabling readers to "jump" from one document or website
to another.

While the Web we know and rely on so heavily today barely resembles that first website,
the underlying ideas of HTML and "hyperlinked Web pages" still endure as thousands of
new websites come into existence every month.

A Map of the Universe

March 21, 2013

"The most detailed map ever created of the cosmic microwave background - the relic radiation from the Big Bang
- was released today revealing the existence of features that challenge the foundations of our current understanding of the Universe."
(source)

This map was produced through ESA's Planck mission,
which observes the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), what ESA describes as "a background sea of microwaves,"
which they state was "released into the Universe by the Big Bang itself, about 14 thousand million years ago"
(source).

To learn more about the map, the mission, CMB, and related science,
here are some additional links to information from ESA:

For example, Windows 8
is the latest operating system from Microsoft. Like Windows 7
(and earlier versions of other operating systems), each new OS
introduces new possibilities along with potential challenges
and hardware requirements for computer users.

To help you sort it all out and keep up with all these changes,
Thrall offers an up-to-date and extensive collection of computer
books, including numerous titles on Microsoft, Apple, and Linux
operating systems and software.

We encourage you to come to the library to browse our computer
book collections. You can also use the links below to browse items
available at Thrall and throughout the local library system (RCLS):

The Higgs Boson Particle

July 5, 2012

On Wednesday, July 4th, scientists from the
Large Hadron Collider
at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research)
announced
their preliminary findings concerning a long-sought
subatomic particle called the "Higgs Boson."

Many scientists believe it is the Higgs Boson
that gives other particles their mass and
enables them to interact and form matter
throughout the universe.

For more on CERN's findings and related topics,
here are links to consider:

Voyagers to the Edge

June 15, 2012

Since 1977, the two Voyager space probes have soared past
the planets on epic journeys taking them toward the edge
of our solar system and the beginning of interstellar space.

Already 11.1 billion miles into its historic trip,
Voyager I still beams back useful information
and shows no signs of slowing down as both probes
press onward at well over 30,000 miles per hour,
according to reports from NASA.

Voyager 2 is not that far behind either: it's gone over
9 billion miles so far.

Their incredible extended missions rank them among the most
distant space craft launched from Earth (in addition to some
of the Pioneer probes).

At this very hour, the Voyagers continue to hurtle
without hesitation into the greater unknown.

Cloud Computing

June 7, 2012

"The Cloud" is not really a place; it's somewhat of a
convenient and catchy phrase used to describe "online
services" located around the world.

Essentially, anything "in The Cloud" is "on the Internet"
or accessible electronically through a Web-based service.

In the most general sense, "The Cloud" is almost a synonym
for "the Web," but it does get far more technical than that.

If you use a Web-based e-mail account, you (and your messages)
are already somewhere "in The Cloud" to a certain extent.
This is also true if you store photographs online
or use online computer backup services.

As more capable online "apps" (software/programs) and
Web-based services become available, more users are able
to access and work with information and files from virtually
any location over the Internet.

In this age of "cloud computing," it will often make more
sense for a person to "save" (store) a file in their e-mail
(as a "file attachment) or send that file to a "cloud storage"
service rather than to save the file to their computer's "C"
drive or to an external "USB flash drive."

Once online, these files can be "downloaded" (retrieved),
printed, or updated as necessary. New files can be created
and "uploaded" (sent) to "The Cloud" as well.

As you might imagine, this opens up all sorts of new and
interesting possibilities, especially for mobile technology
users as well as persons generally looking to move beyond
the limitations of solitary personal computers
- and to take full advantage of the Web!

If you'd like to learn more about The Cloud, you can click
the following link to browse the library system catalog:

Einstein Archives Online

March 29, 2012

A new archive promises to offer unprecedented access
to the writings of Albert Einstein:

"The Einstein Archives Online Website provides the first online access
to Albert Einstein's scientific and non-scientific manuscripts held
by the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
constituting the material record of one of the most influential intellects
in the modern era. It also enables access to the Einstein Archive Database,
a comprehensive source of information on all items in the Albert Einstein Archives."
(source)

The Speed of Light

October 21, 2011

Regarded by most scientists as something of a cosmic
"speed limit" (around 186,000 miles per second as it
travels through a vacuum), the speed of light
is one of the most important concepts helping to define
and describe the physical nature of our universe.

After decades of examining light throughout the cosmos
as well as on Earth, most scientists tend to agree
on this statement: nothing should be able to travel
faster than the speed of light!

Recent news from
CERN (the European Organization of Nuclear Research
and home of the Large Hadron Collider)
indicated one of their experiments produced results
appearing to exceed the speed of light.

What does this mean, and why should we care?

First, if proven (and that being one of the biggest
"ifs" of all time in science), CERN's findings could hint
at many new and thrilling possibilities, such as previously
undocumented properties or dimensions within the universe
(as suggested in alternative theories of physics such as
"Superstring"
or "M-theory").
Such unexpected findings might also, as a matter of course,
demonstrate our current understanding of physics is incomplete
or possibly incorrect somehow.

Such "bad news" would require scientists to revise old
theories or create new ones (and more than a few textbooks
might need to be rewritten). For science, which is in a
permanent state of revision and refinement, this is nothing
new or shocking: science must adapt as new observations
and discoveries are documented and confirmed definitively.

The potential "good news" of CERN's results is that there
could be, among other things, "faster-than-light" (FTL or
"superluminal") thought-provoking concepts (and paradoxes)
yet to be considered along with all sorts of exotic and
exciting theoretical possibilities, such as FTL transportation
- as in "warp speed," a familiar concept among sci-fi fans, one
that is famously represented in such fantastical technologies as the
"warp drive"
of Star Trek's U.S.S. Enterprise
and the Millennium Falcon's"hyperdrive"
from Star Wars.

For example, the ability to travel (or send unmanned space probes)
at near-light or faster-than-light speeds could, in theory, extend
humanity's access to distant planets beyond our solar system,
faraway stars, and deeper regions in space, which would otherwise
take thousands to millions of years (or more) to reach through
current scientific understanding and existing propulsion technologies.
For now, such abilities are possible only in the world of science fiction.

Even if the "speed limit" of light does hold true, as many
expect it will upon reevaluation of CERN's results, there are
numerous other unproven yet equally intriguing scenarios where
humans, robots, or communications might one day be able to overcome
the seemingly impossible distances between our sun and other stars
through the use of wormholes, warp drives, quantum entanglement,
and other very imaginative ideas currently being proposed,
researched, dreamed, and debated around the world.

However this works out, light will continue to fascinate humankind,
especially the prevailing mysteries of light's true nature: light
as a particle (photon), light as a wave, or both. Questions and
speculations from scientists, physicists, philosophers, spiritual
persons, and others will keep these discussions lively and rich
and remind us this discourse really transcends physics: this is about
learning the true nature of the universe, our place in it,
and everything else between and beyond.

As it unfolds, our collective quest to understand and interpret
light and its many cosmic implications will inspire new inquiries
and insights well into the forseeable future, illuminating
incredible paths into the unknown.

To learn more about light, the speed of light, physics, and related
concepts, please consider the following links:

"Today, Americans across the country watched with pride as four of our fellow citizens blasted
off from the Kennedy Space Center in the Space Shuttle Atlantis, and America reached for the heavens once more..."
(continued - full statement at this link)

NASA also offers a number of excellent pages covering all aspects
of the space shuttle, including its history, past missions,
benefits, technologies, photographs, computer wallpaper, and much more:

Transistors in Transition

May 12, 2011

Today's computers and consumer electronic devices
would not exist were it not for the transistor.

Transistors help to govern the flow of electricity
through electronic components. Transistors took
the place of larger vacuum tubes, making it
possible to develop smaller yet more complex
electronic devices, including such popular items
as cell phones and digital music players.

Transistors, along with other components, work
together in "integrated circuits" and create
a complex system of paths for electrical current
so that energy can be harnessed, guided, and
ultimately used by a computer to calculate, store
information, and perform many different tasks.

Over the years, computer chips have gotten
smaller and increasingly powerful. The amount
of transistors that can be made to fit on a chip
relates to something called "Moore's Law," not
"a law of physics" but rather an anticipation
of transistors (and computing power) roughly
doubling in capacity on computer chips every
two years.

A computer's CPU (Central Processing Unit),
essentially a computer's "brain," can contain
millions to billions of tiny transistors. More
transistors generally can mean "a more powerful"
computer, but today's CPUs depend on different
methods and technologies to achieve their
respective levels of performance. In fact,
CPUs are increasingly working along with graphics
cards (graphics processing units, or GPUs, which
help display information on screens) to complete
more tasks and calculations in less time.

Physically, there are limits as to how small a
computer chip can get (and how many transistors
can be made to fit on a chip). Computer chip
manufacturers have been working for decades in
attempts to further miniaturize transistors so
chips can become more capable, working faster,
while consuming less electricity.

One recent example is Intel Corporation's
announcement that it will create chips using three-dimensional
(3D) transistors in hopes of preserving Moore's Law.

AMD,
another major computer chip producer, has its
own plans to achieve greater energy efficiency
and increased CPU capability.

Competition between companies such as Intel
and AMD, along with increasing consumer demands
for faster, cheaper, and more powerful computers
and electronics have motivated chip producers
to innovate and, wherever possible, push
present technologies to very their limits.

For more information on the past, present,
and near future of transistors (and,
consequently, computers and consumer
electronics) check out these links:

Watson, Supercomputer

February 17, 2011

Two humans recently competed against a "supercomputer"
(named Watson) on the popular television trivia show called
Jeopardy.

In case you didn't hear about it, the humans "lost"
the challenge.

If "supercomputer" sounds like a "very powerful computer,"
at least something faster and more capable than your average
desktop PC or laptop, that is putting it mildly.
According to IBM, Watson uses "terabytes of storage and
thousands of POWER7 computing cores working in a massively
parallel system."
(source)

In other words, Watson is not simply a computer but a
vast system of computers that collectively exercise many
more magnitudes of computational power and information storage
capacity than most "everyday computers" will ever provide.

But Watson is not only about the "hardware" - processors,
wires, and memory chips. Watson is a compelling representation of
Artificial Intelligence (AI),
the ability of a computer to "think" in ways somewhat analogous
to (but not nearly as capably or creatively as) human thought.
AI technology has existed for many years and is already used,
in varying degrees and forms, throughout the world.

Watson is only the latest "supercomputer" to come along
and generate some sensational headlines. Before Watson
there was "Deep Blue," the chess
computer which managed to beat chess champion Garry Kasparov
back in 1997.

AI still has a very long way to go before any scientist can claim
a computer has attained the full functional equivalence of a human mind.
Generally speaking, computer systems like Watson still have quite a difficult
time deciphering what some of the most basic human sentences mean,
since language can be rich with meanings and interpretive possibilities.
This became evident as Watson responded errantly several times.

AI-capable computers rely primarily on grammatical rules
and logical relationships between words and ideas, which are
encoded by human programmers. Consequently, increasingly abstract
and intricate ideas continue to present formidable (if not
presently insurmountable) challenges to even the most
artificially intelligent computers on the planet.

So, humanity need not worry too much at the moment.

That said, AI, along with robots (and all forms of "robotics"),
will continue to evolve and play expansive and decisive roles
in the course of human events, making these seemingly far-fetched
topics, once relegated to sci-fi and hobbyists, something nearly
everyone will need to consider seriously in the coming years.

Sci/Tech Best of 2010

December 20, 2010

2011, fast approaching, brings with it a fresh year
full of potentially interesting (if not incredible)
scientific discoveries, technological advances,
new gadgets, and perhaps some medical breakthroughs
as well!

If you're wondering what exactly 2010 supplied,
in terms of new science and technologies, we have compiled
some of the best "best of 2010" sci/tech lists below
to help satisfy your curiosity:

We want to thank all our patrons - our community - for helping
to make this such a wonderful year of public service and success
at Thrall. We look forward to continue serving your interests
and informational needs.

Computers & CPUs

December 13, 2010

Many of us use computers every day, but how do they work?
What's inside of them that lets us do what we do?
Besides the typical circuit boards, wires, and buttons we
might expect to find inside, what is really "in there"
that gives computers the ability to... compute?

In computers commonly used, the main "part" that makes
everything work is the "Central Processing Unit" (or "CPU").
This CPU (also known as a "microprocessor") is what we
might consider to be the "brain" of a computer.

Unlike our brains, which have actual thoughts and memories,
CPUs are not all that intelligent by themselves: they cannot remember
things, make decisions independently, get creative, or come
up with new ideas on their own. CPUs must be told what to do
and need to connect with other things in a computer
to function properly.

This is why many computers (such as desktop PCs and
laptops) also need "memory chips" (called "RAM")
and other parts (known as "hardware"). CPUs do
what they are told by "programs" (also known
as "software" or "applications").

Word processors, Web browsers, and computer games
are all programs which tell a CPU what to do.
When you interact with those programs, they in turn
"instruct" the CPU to do things on your behalf.

The main program that lets you use your desktop
computer or laptop is called an "operating system."
Windows, Linux, and Apple OS/X are examples of
operating systems.

As there are many different types of computers, there
are numerous kinds of CPUs, which can vary in minor
or major ways, above all in terms of their respective
speeds and overall computational powers.

Some advanced CPUs called "multicore processors" can
handle multiple tasks at the same time, making a computer
more capable and faster.

CPUs live on a circuit board (known as the "motherboard")
located within the computer. Using a variety of chips,
wires, electricity, and other parts, all things connected
to the motherboard communicate constantly.
Even when a computer appears to be idle, doing nothing,
things can be quite active on the motherboard!

Deep within the CPU is a microscopic maze of electrical
switches (transistors) which work together to complete
tasks requested by the operating system, programs currently
working, and requests from you, the "user" of that computer.

Every action you take on a computer sets off a series
of signals, actions, and reactions with the CPU and across
the motherboard. Even your simplest requests
- checking your e-mail, typing a letter, or printing a
picture - will result in millions if not billions of
computations to be carried out deep within the computer,
and all within seconds - or faster!

The inner world of the simplest computer can be a truly
fascinating phenomenon!

If you would like to learn more about CPUs, computers,
and related topics, you might want to explore
some of the following links:

Whether or not you agree with Hawking, this can still
be a timely opportunity - a "teachable moment" - to learn
a bit about theories of the universe, how they come into being,
and what they might never be able to tell us.

Hawking's assertion, neither new nor exclusive to him
(and certainly not new to him either: see his lecture
"Does God Play Dice?"),
is a particularly important belief among those persons
who seek to express their understanding of the existence
of the universe in strictly mathematical and scientific
terms. The decidedly precise and limited language
of science allows but a little ambiguity or metaphor,
and so such scientific statements might resonate,
beyond scientific communities, with a certain harshness
or shock, even if that was not the intention of a speaker.

Scientists, duty-bound to honor the
Scientific Method,
must carefully observe, experiment, theorize, and revise findings
in accordance with new discoveries. While there is, in fact,
plenty of opportunity for "new thinking" and creativity
in science, any sound scientific theory must be subject
to further testing, documentation, independent analyses,
and should, in the end, comply with currently known
laws of physics and observable natural phenomena.

This means some theories, such as
inflation
(from the "Big Bang"),
tend to be supported more than others in scientific
communities because those theories seem to fit well
with tests and observations made repeatedly over decades and tend
to survive challenges from alternate theorists.

Dominance of a theory might seem to suggest it can become,
at some point, a universally accepted truth, something
beyond and above questioning, but that is not true:
some of the most accepted and prevailing theories of the
universe proved to be wrong. Past theories, such as
Ptolemy's Earth-centered (geocentric) model
of the cosmos, were later challenged and disproved
as new ideas and technologies presented new truths.

Humans studied the universe for thousands of years,
yet only within the last century or so have scientists
begun to develop and enhance technologies to observe
the universe in greater detail, test ideas, and develop
new theories. In spite of such advancements, there are
still many questions to ponder, many discoveries to be made,
and many more challenges to meet in defense of some
of physics' most cherished and central ideas.

For example, the discovery of
quantum mechanics
introduced countless new considerations and continues to cause
much wonder and rethinking among scientists who are trying
to reconcile the implications of quantum theory with
established laws of physics and the nature of the universe.
That two particles at opposite ends of the universe can
be "entangled"
and, across that impossible-to-imagine distance, still
affect each other illustrates just one of many
quantum questions yet to be fully fathomed.

All of this has complicated the quest for the so-called
theory of everything,
which, in its most ideal form, would uniformly describe
the most basic forces of nature: electromagnetism, gravity,
and the "weak" and "strong" nuclear interactions.
These physical forces have long been recognized to govern
how matter and energies exist and interact atomically.

As Albert Einstein
and others tried to make sense of the universe
and develop theories which could describe what they saw,
they recognized aspects of the universe which did not
seem to work as they expected. Why does the universe
appear to expand? Why is that expansion apparently
accelerating? Einstein came up with something called
the "Cosmological Constant"
in an effort to amend his theories of
relativity
to fit what he saw - only to backtrack and call it his "greatest blunder."

Today, there is lively talk of
"dark matter" and
"dark energy"
as efforts continue to locate "missing matter"
and identify unexpected forces in the universe.
Such discussions and future observations and tests
will likely yield new insights and new theories,
perhaps even leading to a true theory of everything
or require a rethinking of modern day physics.

Until then, the universe will continue to surprise
scientists with unanticipated possibilities. Along
the way, persons like Hawking, might present their findings
as evidence supportive of what they personally and
professionally believe to be the "real" truths of the universe,
yet, due to the constraints of the Scientific Method,
they can only go so far in their statements and theories,
which speak solely to what can be documented, examined,
and reasoned through the Scientific Method.

As some individuals researching topics such as
intelligent life beyond Earth
are fond of saying, "Absence of evidence is not
evidence of absence." In other words, a failure
to detect something does not disproove the existence of that
thing. Scientists can really only go by what can be seen
and inferred and logically deduced. What questions
remain become matters of speculation, philosophy,
or personal belief.

Believe it or not, the universe, vast as it is, might not
be "all there is" to "everything": some scientists contend
there might actually be a
metaverse
(or "multiverse") containing possibly infinite universes
(or "parallel universes"),
each perhaps with their own laws of physics! And while
that might satisfy questions of where our universe might
have originated, questions of the metaverse's origin and
nature hint at even more epic contemplations awaiting
future generations.

Holding your breath in eager anticipation of science's
greatest revelations is not advisable: even the most successful
and accepted theory of the universe could be, in the end, a bit
of a disappointment among non-scientists interested less
in equations and more in potential answers to the mysteries
of life and more. Besides how the universe works
are, for many persons, deeper questions of "why" which
extend well beyond the scope of science.

Einstein conceded this much. In 1940, at the "Conference
on Science, Philosophy and Religion," Einstein had some
interesting things to say, including this famous
and thought-provoking quote:

Creative, if not poetic thinking can also be essential
to the discovery and expression of new knowledge, as writer and philosopher
Ralph Waldo Emerson
noted with dramatic flair in his
"Poetry and Imagination" essay:

A poet comes who lifts the veil; gives them glimpses of the laws
of the universe; shows them the circumstance as illusion;
shows that Nature is only a language to express the laws,
which are grand and beautiful; and lets them, by his songs,
into some of the realities.

Indeed, the universe can be looked upon through many lenses,
many wavelengths, many theories, and many other ways,
including as an anthology of visual poetry,
as the Hubble Space Telescope
historically demonstrated, through
one amazing image after another,
how remarkably beautiful the universe can be, full of spectacular sights
and surprises that have the potential to inspire and teach us more
about ourselves, our world, and our own cosmic context.

For more on stories and theories of the universe,
please see these sections in our Internet guides:

These devices, which fall under the fairly friendly
name of "consumer electronics," can perform many different
and impressive tasks. For example, cell phones can double up
as cameras or mini video recorders, and "smarter" phones yet
allow you to surf the Web, play video games, text friends and
family, and do countless other things - all within a screen
no bigger than your hand.

If you know your way around all these different technologies,
that's great! If not, don't worry! You can quickly catch up
(and maybe even surpass some of your gadget-wielding friends
and coworkers) by checking out some of the latest "Gadget
News" sites as well as books available in our library system:

Digital Radio Transition

April 8, 2010

In the United States, the transition to digital television (DTV) took place in June 2009. As you probably recall,
this is when television broadcasters were required to switch over
to digital broadcasts. If you were among the fortunate ones unaffected by
this national changeover, you did not have to upgrade your television or converter box.

Among other things, the Bill establishes a digital radio transition date of 2015,
when radio broadcasts in Britain would switch from AM/FM to digital broadcasting.
This effort follows recommendations made in the British Government's
Digital Britain project,
which sought to identify ways technologies in the UK could be modernized.

In this document, the FCC explains "What is Digital Radio," lists advantages of digital
(versus analog) receivers, and answers the inevitable question of whether or not you
would need a new radio (at home or in your car) whenever such a transition were
to occur nationally within the United States.

For more information on digital radios and related topics, check out these links:

Science & Spirituality

April 2, 2010

Regardless of any of our personal persuasions, be they scientific, spiritual, both, or agnostic,
we can generally agree, at least, on one thing: the relationship of science and religion
has been a complex one throughout the ages.

Questions naturally emerge as this happens: Are science and religion incompatible, mutually exclusive, or part of a greater reality?
Can things be learned and shared between them? Should humans attempt to "play God" through things like
cloning or
genetic engineering?
Will robots ascend to "higher thoughts" and spirituality once they surpass physical human awareness?
How and why was the universe created?

Fresh waves of books attempting to answer such questions appear yearly
- in recent times due to renewed debates over
evolution,
intelligent design,
and even the origin of the universe.
On either side of these debates stand firm believers joined by others:
the undecided and the agnostic, the open-minded, as well as the newly persuaded.

Each of these authors, proceeding from their own beliefs, participate in data-driven
or divinely-inspired discussions already in progress for thousands of years. Writers
of such books sometimes take up their cause in hopes of demonstrating common ground
or to present fresh perspectives in light of recent discoveries
- or revelations, as might be the case.

In your own efforts to better understand these subjects, you might find
yourself wanting more balanced information or clearer / less emotional
positions than what you might encounter among the more vocal commentators
populating websites and mainstream media (the ones whose strenuous opinions
further complicate and sensationalize these already difficult topics).

Remember: you are welcome to research and contemplate
all of these kinds of topics calmly at your local library.
Believe it or not, this is one of the most important reasons to use
and support public libraries: so that you, or anyone else, can freely and
fearlessly access the full spectrum of information on any given topic,
not just what certain individuals would have you reject or accept as truth.

For example, these are a few of many related titles available in the
library catalog.
You can click on them or their authors to check on these and other relevant works:

Automating Autonomy

Artificial Intelligence & Robots

March 31, 2010

NASA recently
announced
one of its Mars Rovers
(Opportunity) was upgraded to become more autonomous.
As NASA
explains,
this means Opportunity can "make its own choices"
when it comes to which rocks the rover observes next.

For many computer users and followers of technology news,
such a report is not really all that out of the ordinary.
In fact, efforts to create machines with some basic abilitites
to help people complete tasks date back to civilization's
earliest days.

Not too long ago, in the 19th Century,
Charles Babbage,
inventor of the mathematical
difference engine,
helped paved the way for modern computers and artificial intelligence
by recognizing how a machine could help humans calculate numbers.

Earlier examples yet can be found in the depths of history,
including the "Antikythera mechanism,"
an ancient computational device that appears to have helped
its users figure positions of stars and planets -
nearly two thousand years ago!

These creations collectively suggest an otherwise natural progression
of technological advances: having mastered mechanical
challenges of making machines do things, the next challenge
for humans would be to make machines think
- at least in some very basic ways.

The formal name of this activity is artificial intelligence
("A.I." or simply AI). The word "artificial" implies something manufactured,
not of the natural world - implying a simulation or semblance of intelligence.
And that would be correct: computers and machines can only emulate
human-like intelligence.

This does not mean computers are completely unintelligent:
etymologically speaking, intelligence comes down to
chosing between things - certainly a task computers can often excel at
easily, given their increasing hardware
and software abilities
to sift through vast amounts of information (formally called "data")
and make decisions based on specific methods
(technically known as "algorithms" which are part of larger
"computer programs").

Here's a good example: in 1997, the chess computer called "Deep Blue"
managed to beat chess champion Garry Kasparov
thanks to being able to consider reportedly 200 million moves a second
while having access to a database of thousands of previously played chess games.

Deep Blue's "brain" was physically unlike Kasparov's yet still
competitive in the realm of matching
or recognizing patterns
of chess piece positions
and making decisions based on that information - all within seconds.

This "man versus machine"
competition generated a lot of buzz at the time, but humans could still breathe
a collective sigh of relief: Deep Blue was a special
supercomputer designed for this
one specific task. Personal computers
are still not so bright on their own as of 2010.

One goal among some AI scientists is to make AI more humanlike
in its abilities, especially in terms of a computer's ability
to communicate naturally with a person. Computers can
"synthesize speech"
(artificially create word sounds) but do not "speak"
on their own (just yet) because language - even simple phrases
- is a fairly complex task to construct and understand.
Technical phrases for these activities include
natural language processing
and speech recognition.

Today there are such things as "chatterbots"
- programs that can talk quasi-intelligently to you
(ELIZA being one of the first).
Some computers, telephones, and now cars are equipped with
speech recognition capabilities,
allowing them to respond to a limited set of spoken commands.

Entire fields of study and industries - from food and car manufacturers to NASA scientists, video game designers,
and many others - rely heavily on automation and artificial intelligence. Some companies and organizations
even employ "software agents"
to help carry out certain tasks, some of which include communicating with real people
(much to our frustration as customers having to deal with voice menus).

Some computer software programs can speak in nearly convincingly ways,
while others specialize in producing meaningless text
and still others fight against the spread of unwanted information.
You still can often tell when you are talking with a computer
- notoriously so when it does not understand
what you said (and asks you to repeat or rephrase your words)
or uncreatively when its replies fail to be anything but predictable.

As AI technologies become more fluent and flexible, these issues will
eventually fade.
To help AI scientists gauge their progress in this area, there is something called the
Turing Test
(devised by Alan Turing).
The Test helps determine how effectively a computer can speak.
A computer "passes the test" if a person talking to it (and to
another person) cannot tell the computer from the person.

While humankind is not quite on the verge of a
robot uprising,
for well over the past century, AI has steadily increased
its presence and influence throughout all areas of life.
In that time, machines and robots have also become more agile,
capable, and some have even come to
resemble humans.

This is no longer a topic best left to fantasy or science fiction:
the robots really are here!

National Broadband Plan

March 15, 2010

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
is proposing a National Broadband Plan, which they describe as
"setting an ambitious agenda for connecting all corners of the nation
while transforming the economy and society with the communications
network of the future."

For most users, "improved broadband conditions" ultimately
translates to mean "faster and more reliable Internet access."

Beyond that, pricing, availability, and the general state
of networked technologies could also benefit eventually
if such broadband improvement efforts are successful.

Exploring the "Digital Nation"

February 2, 2010

Tonight, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
will air a new in-depth series of reports investigating
how the Internet, virtual reality, and other digital technologies
have impacted and will continue to influence modern life, education,
relationships, and many other aspects of human existence:

The program can also be viewed online at the above link as a series
of videos (Adobe Flash Player required).
Videos are arranged by topics: Living Faster, Relationships, Waging War, Virtual Worlds, and Learning.

3D TV: Three-Dimensional Television

January 8, 2010

If you survived last year's digital television (DTV)
transition and perhaps even purchased a new digital
or HDTV
- possibly even a Blu-Ray disc player - you
might consider yourself all caught up with video
entertainment technology.

For the moment, you would be right, but, as you
probably know by now, technology is ever-changing,
all about "what's next." Even as viewers and video
afficionados breathe a sigh of relief, news of a new
TV technology is making its way around the Web
thanks in part to the recent
Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

That technology is known as 3D TV - as in
three-dimensional television.

3D movies existed for years, but the technology behind
3D has come quite a distance since the days of the quirky
blue-and-red glasses. Some film showings employ polarized
"RealD"
glasses, which resemble sunglasses.